BC AgriStability Program
$3,000,000
Insurance
Description:
In agriculture there are no guarantees. You cannot control the weather, market shifts, or rising costs. AgriStability can help protect your farm.
AgriStability is a low-cost program that helps farmers manage large income losses. When your income drops because of disaster, poor production, rising costs, or bad market conditions, we are here for you.
Comments on Funding:
AgriStability is a margin based program. When your Program Year Margin falls more than 30% below your Reference Margin, AgriStability will provide a payment. Payments are cost shared by the federal and provincial governments.
Program Year Margin
Your program year margin is calculated by subtracting allowable expenses from allowable income. Program year margin is updated annually by the information received on your Statement A. This calculation also accounts for deferred income and receivables, unpaid expenses, purchased inputs.
Allowable Expenses are costs that are directly related to the production of commodities on your farm. This includes costs like fuel, fertilizer, seed, feed, and labour. Fixed costs (repairs, rent, mortgage, etc) are not included. A payment is only triggered when the loss is beyond the farmer’s control.
Allowable Income is the money received from the sale of commodities produced on your farm.
Reference Margin
In AgriStability, your reference margin is very important. It is the average of your profits from the past 5 years of production, after removing the highest and lowest profit years. Your reference margin is used to calculate the amount of coverage that you qualify for and the program fee that you pay for AgriStability coverage. Industry averages are used when a new farm does not have 5 years of reference data.
Reference Years are the past 5 years of farming income and expense data that were used to calculate your reference margin.
Payment Trigger
Your payment trigger is 70% of your reference margin and is recalculated every year. If your program year margin drops below your payment trigger, you will receive a payment from AgriStability. Request a Coverage Notice to receive and estimate of your payment trigger for the current program year.
April 30, 2025
Eligibility:
Applicants must:
1. Have income from the primary production of agricultural commodities
2. Carry on the business of farming in Canada and report farming income (or loss) for income tax purposes
3. Complete a minimum of six consecutive months farming activity
4. Attempt to complete a production cycle that includes one or more of the following:
a. The growing and harvesting of a crop
b. The process of rearing livestock
c. The purchase and sale of livestock within a program year in the case of feeding or finishing enterprises
Application Steps:
Applicants must:
1. Pay your enrolment fee by April 30th of the Program Year (April 30th, 2025 for the 2025 program year)
2. Complete and submit your Statement A by September 30th of the following year (September 30, 2026 for the 2025 program year)
3. If you experience a major loss of income (30% or more), submit a Notice of Loss to discuss receiving an Early Payment (Interim).
Documentation Needed:
Applicants must submit Application form
Other Things to Note:
About the author
Maurice
